Fated Coincidences
by KithSilverz
Summary: Imagine, a world of wonders…yeah...let's just stop right there. This is instead a world of fated coincidences; if such a paradox could even exist. Delve into the lives of various individuals and see how this world's warped sense of destiny intertwines their fates. Expect mysteries, lies and betrayals. Includes GOT7 members! (AU, mystery, adventure, romance, comedy, tragedy, OC's)
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Kyrie was standing at the train station, cautiously scanning the area to find a place to sit. Her train to Creole had been delayed due to a heavy rainstorm that flooded parts of the railroads; so now she had to wait 2 hours for the next one. To her relief, she located an empty spot on a bench but unfortunately it was next to a young woman and a bundle of clothes that looked to be a child. Kyrie usually did not mind people or company but today was a little different. After much debate Kyrie sped walked to the seat and marked it as hers by dumping her bag unto the spot before anyone else took the seat.

Due the train delays there were a lot of stranded passengers with nowhere else to go and forced to wait here for hours at the station just like her. It was best to take a seat now than suffer. Kyrie sat down without a second glance at the woman and baby and slid to a much more comfortable however, unladylike position. She stared up at the vintage ceilings and thought back to a week before.

The incidents from the past came pouring back into her mind and reminded her why she was here and why she had to get to Creole asap. She rid her mind of the frightening thoughts and mindlessly waved her palms in front of her eyes. She could see now but how long would it be before she was stripped of such a simple privilege. As she started to daydream about a nice warm bath, the woman to her right cleared her throat. Kyrie paid no heed to the woman but then the lady next to her and tapped her arm and spoke up.

"I don't want to sound senile, but why wear sunglasses indoors? Especially in a well lit enclosement?" the lady inquired.

Kyrie contemplated whether or not to ignore the woman but then decided to respond with a curt "Because I just want to".

"I see…" it seemed the woman understood that Kyrie was in no mood to chat. Oh how wrong Kyrie was…"Umm so where are you headed? I'm waiting for the train to Creole." She continued.

Kyrie could already see where this was going. She guessed the baby in the woman's arms fell asleep and now she wanted to rid herself of boredom by making small talk with the closest person. In this case, Kyrie was the closest person to the woman. Once again debating whether to answer the woman or not, Kyrie decided to humor the woman and reply back. "Me too."

"Oh so we're going to the same place!" she gleefully exclaimed. "This whole time, I've been travelling alone with my son from our hometown but now it seems I've found the first person on my travels with the same destination as mine." She was now smiling at Kyrie's direction.

Kyrie had yet to turn her head to the woman, heck she had yet to sit up straight. She thought the lady would stop talking to her eventually as long as she kept her answers short but it wasn't working. She didn't have the heart to ask the woman directly to stop talking so she continued to chat. "Where are you from? Why are you headed to Creole?" As long as the conversation was not about herself, she was fine.

After a moment's hesitation, "Umm well we're from a tiny town. I doubt you ever heard of it. And we're just going to visit a friend." the woman answered. Her voice got smaller and softer, almost inaudible at the last part.

Kyrie may not have been all that interested in the conversation but she paid enough attention to it to notice how the woman avoided giving any real details about herself. In fact, Kyrie was surprised neither of them even exchanged names yet. She assumed, that just like her, the woman had something to hide. To the save the woman from spilling any more than necessary Kyrie answered with an "I see." After that it seemed the conversation dropped.

Once again, her thoughts started to drift off, close to falling asleep when a small ruckus expanded to chaotic noise. A train just stopped from a nearby city and several people came out. However, this was no ordinary group of passengers coming unto the platform. Most seemed to be men in black suits blocking a crowd of…fangirls?

" _What?"_ Kyrie thought. _"The heck is going on around here?"_ She sat up in her seat to get a better view of the situation right in front of her. She had no idea why those men were pushing the girls back.

"Ah it looks like they're finally here." Said the woman next to her to no one in particular.

Out of curiosity Kyrie asked "Who?"

Before the woman could say anything, more men in black started to come out and the girls started screeching at the highest octave.

Out the train followed a group of flashily dressed young men. All sporting an unearthly glow and posing for the numerous cameras, the gentlemen waved and smiled. "OMG! GOT7!" screamed a fangirl.

" _What? How? Why"_ Kyrie thought. She was so occupied with thoughts of the chances of meeting them here at a relatively small train station she did not notice a man in a leather jacket approach from behind; a man with an inhumane amount of bloodlust emanating from his very being.

The man was hidden behind the large pillars of the station. Watching. Waiting. Biding his time for the opportune moment to strike. The man recalled how it took a while to track down his target but eventually he found out the person would be here at the train station waiting for the next ride to Creole. He remembered silently entering the station amidst all the other delayed passengers and rabid girls screaming.

He found a pillar to conceal himself. Ahead of him and the pillar was the back of a bench and the backs of two women staring at the crowd of barbaric females encircling a group of boys. The man used this chaotic moment to get closer to his target, attack, and escape. He shrouded himself in invisibility and as he quietly approached he pulled out a contraption from the inside of his jacket pocket. As he neared the bench, a sudden wailing noise resounded through the station halls.

Kyrie could not believe she was witnessing the existence of GOT7 right in front of her. As she continued to stare at the spectacle randomly the child to her right began to cry a river of tears. The child's wailing was unlike any other; it was loud to the point that it rang inside your head. As she covered her hears out of desperation to block the deafening noise she looked to her right to see if she could stuff a few blankets in the boy's mouth herself. To her bewilderment she noticed woman cradling and rocking the child as if the noise had no effect. Kyrie stumbled off the bench to get away from mother and child but as she was doing so she noticed the child pointing behind its mother and decided to look back. At that instant she saw she silhouette of a man appear and disappear as he covered his ears to block the agonizing wails it seemed. In his hand Kyrie noticed a weird contraption but what shocked her more was the face of the illusive man. She knew that face. She recognized that face. As her mind reeled over various thoughts, Kyrie's body moved on its own accord.

 _TRAIN B23 will be departing for Kale in 3 minutes._

 _Waaaaaaaaaah!_

 _What is that sound!? A child!?_

 _Ughh who's baby is that!? Make it stop!_

 _Oh no! Cyrus!_

 _Crap here too! Can't stay together any longer! Sorry!_

 _Wait what are you doing!? Get back here!_

 _Where are you going!?_

As Kyrie's body dashed, grabbed her bags, and made a beeline for the next departing train she heard several shouts and screams belonging to various people resounding in the station simultaneously. Some familiar and others not. However, none of that even mattered. All she needed to do was to get as far away as possible at this moment. And the only way to do that was to jump on the next departing train before it left. As she dashed passed the girls, dodged between the men in black, and scurried through the other passengers she heard the intercom go off again.

 _TRAIN B23 will be departing for Kale in 1 minute. Please step away from the doors and railway._

" _Why did there have to be so many people here today!?"_ As she thought about that, she realized the crowd was veiled as both a curse and blessing. It was bad because it slowed down her pace considerably but good because it did the same for _Him_. Kyrie made her last attempt of a sprint and began pushing and shoving people to reach the train. The doors were starting to shut and as she saw the light at the end of tunnel leaving her she made her last leap of faith.

Kyrie flew right inside the train as the doors were closing. She was sprawled on the ground and turned onto her back and looked up at the train lights. As she breathed heavily she sat up and looked out the train as it began to start moving. Through the glass panes she glanced the man staring back but as the train passed a large pillar his whole being suddenly disappeared from view. All that was left was the blur of the chaos of a crowd left behind.

As her mind slowed to a peaceful pace and her breaths evened out, Kyrie finally took notice of her surroundings. To her utter shock she could hear heavy breaths from both her left and right. It seemed to her that for some reason she was not the only one who made a final leap at the closing train doors. On the floor at her feet lay the woman and child duo she met earlier in the day but even weirder was the body of none other than GOT7's very own and oldest, Mark, sprawled on the floor and gasping for breath.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"What just happened? What's going on?" Jackson asked out loud to no one in particular in the wide room.

He remembered getting off the train with the rest of his group just like usual. They had a fan meeting in the afternoon and a performance later this evening at a local venue. Most of the fans must have known that they would be taking the train this time round due to the sudden storms making air travel too dangerous for the past few days and a road trip would have taken too long. Therefore, they took the train this time.

Before they even stepped off unto the platform of the station, fans were already outside swarming the area. Jackson didn't mind it. He was already use to it. But he felt bad for the passerbys and the random passengers whose tranquil silence was disturbed as they waited to board their trains. Once he and the group got out, camera flashes blanketed them in an ethereal glow and they donned their normal poses. Everything was going smoothly; besides of course the crazed fans who were trying to claw their way passed the security to come closer to the group, everything was fine and normal. Until…well until he heard the intense wailing of what Jackson believed to be a…child?

While they were taking photos and displaying fan service; randomly a child began to cry. Everyone halted what they were doing to cover their ears to stop the hellish noise. " _Why is it so loud!?"_ Jackson shouted inside his head. He tried looking around for the source of the noise, but as was doing so, he noticed a girl squeezing past the fangirls, almost as if she was running for her life? He didn't know why so he looked in the direction of where she ran from and discovered the cause of the noise. It was nearing his group, body guards, and the crowd of fans.

" _Wait a minute? IT was actually…a child?"_ IT was a kid in a woman's arms, and just like the girl he saw before, the lady too was running through the crowd. The noise was getting closer and louder and he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to run away as far as possible, away from the noise. However, the guards and the crowd around him prevented that from happening.

Surprisingly, one of them however did not care about the people surrounding them. To his left, Jackson heard his manager's voice shout "Wait what are you doing!? Get back here!" Jackson turned and to his utter bewilderment he saw Mark running away. " _Why…_?" Jackson thought. It seemed that because the guards and girls were so preoccupied with plugging their ears from the harsh baby cries, Mark was able to easily make his way through the crowd. " _Is he running to the train_?" Jackson concluded.

No longer worried about the wails, Jackson tried to follow pursuit. _"Why are you running away? Why are you leaving us?"_ his mind spiraled into endless questions. As he tried running forward he was help back by heavy arms and found out his manager and a guard were pulling him and the rest of the group away from the noise.

"NO! We can't leave Mark! He's over there" Jackson shouted helplessly as he was dragged away from the crowd of spectators and girls. He mustered all the strength he had and shouted at the top of his longs as he was being pulled away, "Where are you going!?" to a pair of ears that were getting further and further away from him.

Now, the remaining members of GOT7 were in a private room in the station. Everyone, looked confused and sullen. Jackson did not know what to make of his feelings. To make the situation worse, no one was giving them answers. JB and Yugyeom looked just as confused. Other than Jackson those two were the only ones in the group who saw Mark make a run for it.

Youngjae, BamBam, and Junior were all sad. They wondered if anything happened to Mark, to make him leave like that. " _However_ " Jackson thought. They wouldn't be so sad if they witnessed the determined look their Hyung had on his face as he was running. " _He looked as if he really wanted to get away,_ " he thought.

"Good news guys." Their manager came into the room. "I just got done talking things over with the PD. We've decided to cancel and postpone all group events and activities for the time being. Of course until we can settle all the problems. Luckily, for now we can blame the nonstop bad weather around the country for the cancellations and postponements." he said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay..? Well what about the bad news? None of that matters to any of us! What about Mark! Where'd he go!? Why did he leave!?" Junior was practically shouting his lungs out at the manager. Jackson was glad he did, because if it weren't Junior then Jackson would have gladly taken on the role to shout at their manager.

"Calm down Jinyoung. There's no need to shout at Hyung." JB calmly spoke. Surprisingly, he was taking this in a rather mature manner. Normally, his blood level would have hit the roof Jackson noted.

"How? Our friend. Our brother just up and left! With no word of goodbye or explanation! None of it makes sense!" this time it was Youngjae shouting.

"It wasn't without a word of goodbye though.." JB began to explain. "I heard him. He said something along the lines of 'Can't stay together any longer' or something. The weirder part was that he…apologized?" JB was also dumbfounded by what he was saying.

"What does that mean? It sounds like you're saying he planned on leaving. But his departure was a lot sooner than he expected. Is that what you're telling us?" Yugyeom speculated.

"There's no need to jump to conclusions. We don't know if that's the case" BamBam tried to defend.

"Guys. Guys. GUYS!" the manager spoke up. "Look, even I'm confused about the events that transpired today, but as of right now, there's nothing you nor I could do that would bring Mark back. So we need to cool our heads. I talked to the CEO, and he said to come back to the company immediately. This kind of situation will definitely get the netizens talking if we don't handle the situation carefully. Luckily, due to those wails, no one noticed Mark make a run for it besides the three of you here, myself and a few of the guards. So for now, let's just head back home. We will do our best to find out what's going on once we cool our heads and head back." he quietly explained to us.

We all knew good and well that arguing will get us nowhere. But how else were we supposed to release the frustration and tension of today. " _We just want…answers_." Jackson thought resentfully.

Suddenly, the manager turned in his direction. "How come you haven't said a word?" he asked. "It's very unlike you."

As I looked at him, my mind went blank save for one question. I guess if we had to wait for answers until we got back there was no need to say anything. But curiosity took the best of me and with an air of utter defeat and tired resignation I asked our manager, "Just where did that train take him?"


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Kale…huh? This is quite the conundrum," Kyrie said aloud.

After discovering the woman – child duo from earlier and Mark of GOT7 tumbled into the same train as her, the place has been eerily awkward.

They all got up from our scrambled positions and sat down in 3 various spots in the train cart. Since the train she hopped on was a B train, it was a bullet train. Therefore the seats were almost designed as a normal subway. So instead of sitting and looking forward at the backs of more seats the the four of them were facing each other.

Kyrie sat near an exit. The woman and her child sat several seats to her right. And Mark took a seat across from them. No one was speaking and it was killing her. Kyrie normally appreciated the silence but today right now obvious curiosity was compelling her to find answers.

So she broke the silence once again. "Well then. Why did you guys jump into this train? I thought you were headed for Creole earlier?" she interrogated as she turned to face the woman.

The woman sat there for a while playing with her child's hand who thankfully and miraculously quieted down since they got on the train. Finally she answered with a simple, "We had to get away from there."

"Why?" Kyrie asked almost immediately.

"Because I want to," she slyly remarked, reminding Kyrie of their earlier conversation.

Kyrie was back to square one but this time more questions were floating in her mind. She turned to Mark this time. Mustered up her courage and voiced her inquisition.

"Why of all people, are _YOU_ here? Didn't GOT7 have some sort of schedules planned? This isn't some personal outing considering you've got nothing on you right now except the clothes on your back."

Mark looked up at her, gave an odd look, and turned away. Once again she was met with silence.

She hoped this whole ride wasn't going to be like this. Even though this was a bullet train (known for its speed) Kale was a small village on the outskirts of the country. The distance needed to be covered was a vast one. Not only that, this train was also on an express track. Therefore, there will be no more stops between now and until they reach Kale for people to get on and off. The 3 adults and one baby have a long 3 hours to occupy.

The thought that she had to survive through 3 hours of this suffocating silence only seldom broken by the child's tiny chuckles seemed unbearable to Kyrie. After racking her brain for several minutes she decided to quit thinking and take a necessary nap after today's unexpected events. Halfway into her nap she felt someone crawl unto her.

"No! Cyrus!" Kyrie heard someone warn. Suddenly she felt tiny hands on her face. No longer believing it to be a dream Kyrie jumped right up shouting, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" tossing the child off of her.

Mark had a mini heart attack when he heard the girl suddenly shout. He definitely didn't expect that. Worse was that he saw the toddler toppling towards the floor, and through sheer instinct he dove right for the kid. He heard the woman's sharp gasp and then a sigh of relief. He was right on time. The kid was safe and sound in his arms with a startled look in its eyes, which Mark couldn't blame since the child nearly faced a severe injury.

He looked up at the girl and saw her hands scramble up to her face and adjust her sunglasses. She swiftly got up from her seat and walked towards one end of the train cart. She tried opening the door. " _Probably wants to go into a different cart,_ " he thought. " _She should know better though._ "

"It won't open you know," he said aloud without thinking. " _Well might as well start what I finish_ ," he thought.

"I'm pretty sure you know or else you have gone to a different one quite a while ago. Heck any of us would have. But I'll explain it just to be sure. Since this is a bullet train, the speeds of which exceed a great velocity, its unsafe to open and exit the carts at will. They don't work when the bullet train is on the move to prevent unnecessary injuries or worse, casualties." He dutifully reiterated.

The girl gave him a small glance before muttering a breathless 'Dammit' he presumed, before taking a seat on one of the ends of the train.

Seeing the girl like that perplexed him. Earlier, she seemed very talkative, almost like the type that enjoyed getting close to people. However, the shunned silence the woman and he replied her with forced her to quiet down. At first he thought she feigned curiosity in both of them to hide her ulterior interest in _Him_. He knew he was an idol and a famous one at that. So he's used to people chatting up his various non-idol friends or acquaintances to eventually get closer to him. He thought she was doing the same, just hiding her true intentions behind the fake veil of wanting to befriend _both_ him and the woman next to her but then train her focus on him later.

" _They usually do that,_ " he thought. So he ignored her.

However, this distance that she's displaying now seemed unlike her. He knows that it's weird to think that considering this is the first he's ever seen her but he wondered why he thought that she's unusually closing herself off. It was weird to him. Almost frightening. " _It's like I'm looking into a mirror,_ " he mindlessly thought.

At that moment, Mark heard someone clear their throat and he broke his thoughts and turned his face to look up at the woman staring down at him with her arms outstretched. He just then realized the kid was still in his arms and immediately looked down at the child wiggling in his arms.

"Oh! I'm s-s-sorry! I d-d-didn't mean to hold onto him like that…" his shaky voice trailed off in embarrassment as he passed the child into her arms.

"It's okay," she said. "Surprisingly Cyrus didn't cry or shout in your arms. He normally despises strangers." She replied with a warm smile.

Mark gave a shy cheesy smile and replied, "Oh nonsense. I'm pretty sure he's a great kid."

The woman released a shallow laugh and raised her eyebrows. "You really think that after experiencing his wails back at the station?" she inquired playfully.

"Haha I guess not. I never heard anything like that. What happened?" he heard himself ask the woman.

At his question the woman's face began to turn glum again. He didn't mean to make her feel sad. Suddenly she spoke up looking at the end of the cart; "I guess we might as well talk to each other. It looks like we all have something to hide, but from what I gather from the incidents of this afternoon, we all ran from the same problem."

Instantly, Mark's mind recalled the events that occurred earlier in the day. The woman's words rang in his ears. _We all ran from the same problem._

The woman's next words cut Mark's off from continuing any further.

"Well, since no one else will, I'll start off. Hello, my name is Leanne and this is my son Cyrus," she bravely spoke out.

However, what really astonished Mark were her next words.

"…And I'm guessing you two are cursed as well, huh?"


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Jinyoung swiped his phone screen to unlock and began to type into the search box when someone's head tilted towards the screen.

"What are you doing?" Jackson asked.

"I'm checking out a place." He replied.

Jinyoung remembered what their manager told them before they boarded the vans back to their company.

' _The train departed for Kale,' their manager had said in reply to Jackson's question. 'And before you ask I'll tell you now that I have no idea why Mark boarded that train. Like I said, we will discuss all of this once we get back home. For now, just gather your things and exit out through those doors right there' he said pointing near the back of the room. 'We decided that taking vans back home may take longer but it will be less hectic for us all. Last thing we need is for you boys to be surrounded by a huge crowd of fans in this state. PD-nim told me that it would be best to prolong Mark's sudden disappearance from the fans as long as possible. We don't want this spread on the net and start a scandal.' No one argued and did what they were told. They were all too weary in muddled in worry to even try any further at that point._

Now that they have been in the van for a little past an hour, most of the members fell asleep. The ride was just full of frustrated silence and a heavy atmosphere that the only way to escape was to force a nap upon oneself. However, no matter how hard he tried, Jinyoung was too restless to fall asleep.

"Is it Kale?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah"

"What did you find out?"

The two of them were all the way in the back of the van alongside with their BamBam. Jinyoung sat next to the window, Jackson in the middle, and their manager closest to the door. Since they were side by side the two spoke in hushed whispers to prevent their friends from waking up and from letting their conversation float to their manager who was driving.

"It's all the way up north. It's a barren wasteland. Or better yet, barren tundra would be a more appropriate description. Hah! That's weird considering the place is named after a green vegetable even though it's full of ice and snow." Jinyoung explained.

"Why do you think he'd want to go there?"

"No clue. His hometown was a sunny and warm place. I see no reason why Mark would run away to there. Do you think he just wanted to leave, and any train to any destination was as good as any, so long as he got away?" Jinyoung inquired of Jackson.

"…I saw him as he ran away. I saw his face Jinyoung. And those words that Yugyeom over heard…I really think that rather than Kale being his destination, Mark just wanted to leave…No more like he _had_ to leave." Jackson sincerely answered.

"He had to leave huh?" Jinyoung repeated. "What do you think he was running away from then? The company? Life as a singer? _Us?"_ the last question voiced a tinge of hurt even Jackson could not help but hear.

"I'd like to think it was anything but us. But we can never be too sure…"

"This really isn't you. Normally you'd try to cheer us all up. Brighten up the mood."

"True. But there really isn't anything in me that wants to do that. I feel way too confused and annoyed. But more than anything, I feel so hurt. Hurt that he left without saying a word. Hurt that he felt like he couldn't confide in any of us before he did."

Jinyoung knew all too well what Jackson meant. It's true that Jackson usually lifts everyone's moods and Jinyoung usually calms everyone down and makes them feel at peace. But how could either of them do that when their own emotions betrayed them. How can they even begin to think that it's alright to put on a mask and lie to everyone to get better when they themselves don't know if it will. The both of them missed their Hyung too much.

The two no longer knew what else to talk about so they drifted back into silence. Jackson began to doze off and Jinyoung began to look out the window. They were driving too fast for him to enjoy the scenery. Just like the landscape before him, memories began running through his mind in great speeds. Flashbacks flew into his head and left just as fast. All of them contained Mark, him, and the rest of the members. There were good times and the bad. Friendships don't strengthen without a few fights and rifts in the process of bonding. However, this sudden departure would take the cake. It definitely caused everyone to feel unsettled and for some reason Jinyoung had a cloud of foreboding envelope his whole being.

"I guess neither of you are going to answer." Leanne spoke out. "Guess I'll just continue myself," she said as she glanced at the perplexed gawks the two were giving her now.

"I don't know where to start. So the beginning seems just right about as any. I'll skip all the unwanted fluffs and details and get to the point to keep the long story short. So no worries there," she reassured them.

Leanne firmly placed Cyrus on her lap and began to retell her past to the two nervous souls listening intently, "I'm a farm girl from a remote town way down south. We don't see many interesting people there so in the peak of my adolescence I met a fine young man and naively fell in love with him. He came to our town to complete some personal botanical studies. Luckily for me, over time my love became requited after some serious strife on my part." This got a small chuckle from both of her audience members.

"We were in bliss, just the two of us. We got married, were gifted a small home, a cottage to be specific on the farmland in the south, from my parents and began our lives together. We had Cyrus together a year after marriage and everything was going so well for the both of us. Or so I thought." Leanne's words started to sound bitter.

"Suddenly, a few days after Cyrus turned one my husband received an unknown letter. He wouldn't reveal the contents of the letter to me, but whatever it was definitely troubled him. At first his worries didn't seem too troublesome. I just assumed it was some debts that he was trying to hide from me. But soon, after a few weeks, he began to get jittery and panicked at any given moment. When someone tapped him on his shoulders, when he saw the shadow of a bird fly by, or we had unexpected visits from friends, it all made him unbearably afraid. I sat him down one day and begged for an explanation. He reassured me that it was nothing and that it would all get better. That he found out what he needed to do. He said he needed to go back to his hometown and settle a few things. So he left on his journey, leaving Cyrus and I behind. It was supposed to take him 1 week to clear up whatever business he had back home. However, one week turned to two and weeks turned to months. Every time I mustered up the courage to go visit him, a call or letter would come home explaining how his work was getting delayed and that we shouldn't worry. Attached to his letters would be another envelope with money to help the two of us," she said looking down at Cyrus.

"It really bothered me but I wanted to trust in him so I did what he asked of me and stayed home and watched over Cyrus. However, a couple months after Cyrus's second birthday, the calls and letters my husband sent stopped altogether. He no longer picked up any of my calls or sent back any letters. I began to panic. I decided it was time I go visit him. The night before my departure an unknown fellow came to visit. He said that he had information about my husband. Without any caution I immediately let that man into our home. To my bewilderment the man's words started to sound…twisted. He began to say that…I was my husband's mistake…and that Cyrus was the fruit of that mistake. Fear enshrouded me at that moment and when he turned toward my son who was playing on the floor I froze. The man lifted his arm and spoke an unknown tongue and slowly an aura erupted around him. Suddenly, I felt my legs move and just as a burst of light energy shot from the man and towards my son I stepped in between them. Some sort of shockwave occurred and his spell relapsed back inside himself. He jumped right back up and began to swear at me. He shouted saying that the child did not disappear however his curse was not negated entirely. I was simply burdened with half the weight of the curse. Besides killing my son, the two of us instead were cursed with a time bomb. Our life force will quickly drain from us and the both of us will inevitably die. The man was 'kind' enough to tell me that I have less than a year. However for my son…it may be sooner." Leanne finished with a solemn look in her eyes.

There was a long pause for everyone to gather their thoughts, only to be broken by, "So, how were you able to prevent your son from dying? You don't seem like a magic user to me." It was Kyrie asking from the far end of the train.

Leanne was reminded that she didn't explain that yet, and retrieved a chain from under her shirt, "I guess this little thing was the key in protecting us at the time," she said twirling a fiery red gemstone attached to the end of the chain. "My husband gave this to me on our wedding night. He said that it was symbol of his undying love for me and his eternal passion to keep me happy, healthy, and safe. This stone must possess some underlying enchantment and partly nullified that fiend's wretched curse," she revealed as she quickly placed the chain under her shirt.

"What about your husband?" Mark finally spoke.

"…That's…another story," she meticulously answered as a cloud formed over her eyes, earning a questioning look from Mark.

"So…this is the reason why you're headed to Creole, huh?" Kyrie questioned.

"Mhmm. Like they say, 'Home of Wizards, Warlocks, and Witches'. It's my best chance to rid my son and I of our curse," Leanne spoke determined.

"Guess that makes the three of us," Kyrie responded with a wry smile as she walked towards them.


End file.
